You Gave Them the Information, but did They Read or Understand it?--Written Health Literacy in Action
Are you frustrated when your client calls with a question that was on the paperwork you provided? As college graduates, we all learned to write effective term papers. But we did not learn how to write medical information so the vast majority of US residents can understand us.
Learning simple written health literacy techniques, including what the page should look like, which font to use, what words to use, what grade level to shoot for, and even whether to use bold or underlining, can dramatically increase the likelihood that written health materials you share with a parent will indeed be both read and understood. Since 50% of adults read so poorly they cannot understand directions on a prescription bottle, we should always assume parents will have difficulty reading and understanding health materials and develop our materials to match, a concept referred to as health literacy universal precautions. Even if your population is affluent and/or well-educated, short, brief, to the point and visually appealing documents are much more likely to be read instead being put aside for when the busy person has more time.
What will you learn and do in this session?
Learning simple written health literacy techniques, including what the page should look like, which font to use, what words to use, what grade level to shoot for, and even whether to use bold or underlining, can dramatically increase the likelihood that written health materials you share with a parent will indeed be both read and understood. Since 50% of adults read so poorly they cannot understand directions on a prescription bottle, we should always assume parents will have difficulty reading and understanding health materials and develop our materials to match, a concept referred to as health literacy universal precautions. Even if your population is affluent and/or well-educated, short, brief, to the point and visually appealing documents are much more likely to be read instead being put aside for when the busy person has more time.
What will you learn and do in this session?
- Review a document and identify its reading level, its understandability, and problems with its layout
- Use a plain language thesaurus to modify your “nurse speak” medical jargon into more understandable terms
- Identify the best style font, font size, and color and the best layout for clear reading
- And much, much more
Audience: School nurses & social workers; primary, secondary and tertiary care providers and their staff; public and community service agencies; health education organizations.
Options: 1-2 hr written-only class. (1-3 hr in combination with verbal health literacy) Keynote, general session or breakout. More time includes hands-on activities for greater retention and learning.